I LOVE some of Phil's music...solo and with Genesis. On the the other
hand, he/they have created some serious crap to me at least. Can the same guy who did
"In The Air Tonight" do "Two Hearts"? "Abacab"..very cool. "Hold On My Heart"..awful.
Anyone else have this feeling about an artist? Rod Stewart, Clapton and Journey come to mind.

McCartney and Dylan. While they remain my all-time two favorite performers
they have both produced some clunkers over the years. I think that's to be expected when you've been at it as long as they have. I think Dylan's most recent stuff has been very good, while Paul continues to blow hot and cold.

Of the artists mentioned, I don't care much about Collins, like most of Genesis', gave up a long time ago on Stewart, continue to be frustrated by Clapton, and, other than for "Don't Stop Believing", have no use for Journey.

St. Springsteen.

Like other artists, most notably Sheryl Crow, Phil is better when he's angry or coming off of a bad relationship.

Yup, I agree about Phil Collins - as well as Rod Stewart. Both are still enormous talents and are capable of memorable and adventurous music, yet they've obviously grown complacent - and are content to release mushy muzak.

I just choose to listen to the good Collins/Genesis stuff, and strike the rest from my memory.

McCartney. How could the guy who wrote almost 1/2 the Beatles hits & Maybe I'm Amazed have had such a syrupy solo career..............

Phil Collins was in Brand X and the first five or so albums are just great - if you're into instrumental jazz rock - and showcased some of his best drumming ever. Later Phil even tried to "pop" out that band with some truly awful vocal tunes.

Heart. Loved them until they discovered hairspray and Dianne Warren. What utter SHITE they dumped on us in the '80s! They seem, mercifully, to be back to form.

Funny, I'm the opposite; I stayed with Heart through parts of Brigade & a couple songs on Desire, but they've bored me to tears since.

Right the f*** on!!!!

Sting goes in this category, too. Just when I think I can't forgive him for the lute album, I hear "Fortress Around Your Heart" and I cut him some slack.

+1 on McCartney - "Yesterday". "C Moon". Need more?

Kiss is another one - and for not the albums that a lot of fans seem to hate ("Dynasty", "Unmasked", "Carnival Of Souls", "The Elder"). Given how good the first six studio albums are, how could they have gone on to "Crazy Nights", "Hot In The Shade" and "Psycho Circus"? 1970s? "Deuce". 1990s? "Spit". Yech!

Alan

I really like Phil Collins' music and have a decent tolerance level for some of the tunes that are considered overly syrupy/sappy. The repetition that they were played on the radio when they were hits made it tough, but I don't mind them now that I don't listen to the radio. Having said that, I find his album Both Sides nearly unlistenable. It just drones on and on...

As far as Collins solo, I like 3 songs: In The Air Tonight, Against All Odds & Hero.

Geff,

"Hero" isn't ringing a bell with me. Is that a David Crosby song?

Collins & Crosby recorded it twice together. They each sang lead on "their" version & backup on the other person's.

I'm not sure where the Collins version was released; AMG only shows it on a German various artists cd!

I like all Heart material. The 80's Heart created some excellent AOR material it was obviously a concession to the label to use outside writers and they weeren't entirely happy with it, but I love songs like "These Dreams", "Never", "Alone", "Stranded", etc. plus they also kept putting out Hard Rock material throughout those years with great songs like "If Looks Could Kill", "Wild Child", "The Wolf", "Black On Black II" and others.
I love the 70s Heart far more, but it's all good with me, and 2004's "Jupiter's Darling" is a pretty damn good album-very heavy with some mellower Folk-oriented tunes and lots of guitars and very little keyboards. The mix is dry but the songs are very very good.
As for Phil Collins, his first 2 albums are excellent and the next 2 had some great Pop songs, but starting with "Both Sides" it kinda became a crapfest.

I didn't mind the Heart 80's stuff. I was perplexed by the focus on the other sister, but the music was enjoyable.

The record label couldn't afford the wide angle lens.

No "Easy Lover" love? Really? That song's badass. Mostly thanks to Philip Bailey, but still...

EDIT: Or are you excluding it because it's a duet? I guess I consider PC's solo career to be anything without Genesis.

Hank, my personal taste is I don't like Easy Lover.